Monday, August 1, 2016

Harvest Monday - August 1, 2016

This past week two veg dominated the harvests - beans and peppers.

Provider Snap Beans

It's my first year growing Provider snap beans and I love them - they are tender, stringless and delicious. I served a big batch when we had some company over and everyone, including the kids, had 2nd helpings.

Also at full production now are the Golden of Bacau.

Golden of Bacau with a few off-type beans

Those green beans in the above photo are an off-type that one of the vines is producing - it looks exactly like Golden of Bacau (GB) except that it's green.

There is some exciting news in the bean patch this year - absolutely NO sign of the bacterial brown spot that plagued this variety in the past. Looks like the new seeds I purchased are clean and I will definitely be saving a big batch of them to sow in the future. Hurray! This is one of my favourite varieties and I was so sad when I thought I would have to give it up.

A new Romano variety that has just started to produce as well is the Garden of Eden.

Golden of Bacau with a few Garden of Eden

These guys seem to be much smaller than the GB and the vines are nowhere near as prolific. What you see in the basket was the entire harvest from last week and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of immature beans hanging from the vines. Some beans do slow down during hot weather and I also haven't tasted them so that may be a deciding factor one way or another.

Then we have the peppers - they are going crazy!

Hungarian Hot Wax

Well, crazy for me, that is...I think they would have to pick up the pace even more if they were to compare with what Michelle typically harvests :)

Jimmy Nardello

The first harvest this week was a basket of sweet Melrose peppers, together with some Padrons & Anaheims.

That's the harvest from two plants, and there are at least that many left on the plant that will be ready to pick in another week or so. These are seeded, cut into rings and canned; they are my husbands go-to hot pepper throughout the year.

And then there were jalapenos and Pepperoncinos, together with a few more Melrose peppers.

Top - Tam Jalapeno

Bottom - Left - Melrose; Right - Pepperoncino

A few summer squash were harvested - always a BIG deal around here as I have always had issues growing them:

Romanesco, Scallop & Tromboncino

Last year I forgot all about sowing the Tromboncino, so it was sown late and I only ended up with one lowly squash. Looks like this year will be a lot better as I already have 2 more sizing up on the vines. This is my first time growing scallop squash and it's such a cutie! Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with it - I'm thinking stir-fry on the bbq.

The cucumbers are coming along steadily - just enough to include in our meals, but not so much that I have to think about preserving them yet.

Garden Sweet & Lemon cucumbers

I've been growing Suyo Long cucumbers for a few years now and quite like this variety - when it gets pollinated properly. Unfortunately, that rarely seems to happen:

Suyo Long

Most of the Suyo Longs end up like the one above - with one fatter end and one skinnier end - a sign of incomplete pollination. I think I've given it enough of a shot, so this will likely be it's last year in the garden.

I've been harvesting more broccoli - we are now down to side shoots and all of the varieties seem to be coming through on that front.

Broccoli side shoots and baby potato

We had some company over the weekend and they were fascinated by the potato bed. To show them that there were indeed potatoes under the plants and straw, I dug around and pulled one out. It made me smile when our guest, holding up the spud, called out to his wife who was examining the next bed and said - "Hey look - it's a potato!" :)

And last, but certainly not least, this past week I pulled all of the garlic:

7 varieties & 150+ bulbs of garlic

I was a bit late in pulling it up, but none of the bulbs seemed to be any worse for wear - all the wrappers were still nice and tight.

Music

Even though I don't tally up the harvest until after the bulbs are cured, I can already tell that this will be one of my best years so far with some bulbs being larger than any I have harvested in the past. I'm so looking forward to digging into the numbers in a few weeks - and yes, I do know how geeky that sounds :)

Also harvested this week but not photographed were a few favas - the plants are on their last legs and I'll likely harvest what is left and pull them this week - and a few Sungold tomatoes. A Bloody Butcher tomato was also harvested but as it went into a salad when we had people over, I didn't have time for a photo shoot.

34 comments:

Beans are one thing which usually did really well on my allotment, I'm missing the gluts this year, I usually had plenty to freeze as well as eat fresh. I love patty pan squash, none this year but I'll see if I can squeeze some in the garden in future, the plants are so prolific.

They grew patty pan at the farm last year and it inspired me to add a couple of plants - they are so cute, I hope that we enjoy them on the dinner plate. And yes, beans usually go crazy for us too (although last year, they were a bust). We are back on track this time and our freezer will once again have plenty for the winter.

Well, we are garlic fiends at our house, so we will have NO issue using all of that up. In fact, after the harvest my son insisted on tasting a clove from a freshly pulled bulb. Thankfully I made sure he only had a tiny speck...and then he proceeded to jump around indicating, with a myriad of facial expressions, how spicy it was :)

Yay for the garlic crop! You don't sound geeky to me as I have been enjoying tallying mine up as it dries. Your pepper plants do look great, and your Jimmy Nardello plants are loaded compared to mine. I'm loving my Pepperoncinos here, and the plants have been pumping them out so far. Thanks again for pointing me out to the Pinetree version, because it was exactly what I was looking for!

My pleasure, Dave - makes me feel good that I contributed, at least in a small way, towards your garden considering all of the MANY varieties you have highlighted and gotten so many of us growing over the years :)

Every spring as early as possible I buy Suyo Long and Tsuyataro from the Japanese nursery. Suyo Long way out produces Tsuyotaro, but I like TT a little bit better. Anyway, I suggest that maybe planted right next to each other as they are might encourage better pollination. They are grown in morning sun, afternoon shade.

You know, Jane, I've tried but it doesn't seem to do much good. This year I have 6 (or is it 7? can't recall right now) varieties of cucumber growing, side by side. One of them - Lemon - is a prolific bloomer and one of the reasons I include it in the bed is to attract those pollinators. Perhaps it's just how it is in my garden. Not a big loss, though, as most of the other varieties are doing very well, so we will not be short of cucumbers, that's for sure!

Fantastic garlic harvest!! 150+, wow! And your peppers are doing very well too. I miss having Jimmy Nardello, will have to make sure I get some of those next year. And ditto what Michelle said, that Hungarian Hot Wax plant is crammed full of peppers!

Hooray for no brown spot this year! That Jimmy Nardello plant is completely loaded and your garlic harvest is very impressive. I love gardening data and have excessive amounts of spreadsheets, so zero judgement on being a geek ;)

Ha, ha - I have no doubt about that Julie :) I'm so happy about the lack of brown spot - I always save my own legume seeds (they are so easy to save!) & now I will abe able to do so for the GB and not have to worry about supply or contaminated seed in the future.

So many interesting peppers! I haven't had much luck with anything other than bell peppers in the past, but seeing all the varieties that you and other folks grow makes me want to try again next year. And the garlic! It would take me years to use that much, but I'd be happy if I could grow it that well.

Peppers are such an addictive crop, k, much like tomatoes - just so many different varieties! What's funny is that bell peppers are what I've always had issues growing, while the others usually don't do too badly. I think variety makes a big difference when it comes to peppers, so I would definitely give them another go, perhaps trying out several different varieties to see which ones do best in your garden.

The garlic harvest looks really impressive. It must have been a great garlic year.

And darn it-now I wish I had patty pan squash.....though I too, admit, I have NO IDEA how to prep it. I'm thinking surely it must be like zucchini-slice and saute? Well, I expect you can figure it out and enlighten me. Enjoy!:)

I think you are right - it's been a great year for garlic, Sue. As with most things in the garden, it could have been a number of factors, but I think that feeding them with some organic fertilizer in the spring may have given them that extra boost.

As it turns out, we had the patty pan squash last night. As you so cleverly surmised ;), I stir-fried it in a basket on the bbq, together with the tromboncino (dang that thing is huge!)...mighty delicious!

A great and very varied harvest, Margaret! Everyone is harvesting beans now, wherever they are, and it's fascinating to see how many types are being grown. The Provider and Fortex ones seem to be hugely popular on your side of the Atlantic, so they must be good. I can well imagine the interest shown in that potato by your guest. People who do not grow their own are always impressed to see potatoes coming out of the soil. As for peppers / chillis - you are way ahead of me. So far I've only harvested 2 or 3, from over-Wintered plants. I'm not picking any green ones yet though, I want them to mature fully. I usually pick green ones only when I reckon they won't have enough time to ripen before cold weather sets in, so hopefully not for a few more weeks!

I'm trying more varieties of beans this year than ever before - they are another crop (out of many, obviously!) that I would love to have more space to experiement with.

You are so right - so many people get excited when they see this or that veg growing in the garden...and I'm one of them! No matter what I grow and how many gardens I see, I still get that little thrill when I see those ripe tomatoes on the vine or a long carrot is pulled from the soil. It never gets old!

I grow a number of peppers that are usually harvested while still green for that very reason - an early harvest! Well, that and the fact that they are delicious :) I still have a few weeks to wait for the first "red-ripe" ones, although I am starting to see a hint of colour on one of the Odessa peppers (exciting!)

I love fresh green beans too. I do prefer fresh to frozen, but so long as they aren't blanched for too long, they are still so much better than those dried out "fresh" ones in the stores over the winter.

Our beans are just starting to produce but the peppers are a long way off.It's probably been one of our equal worst years for garlic the bulbs are just so small that I am tempted not to bother with them again next year.How do you preserve your cucumbers do you pickle them?

I do make pickles, but not a whole lot as we don't really use them that much - perhaps 4 or 5 jars in total - but most are eaten fresh. I know what you mean about a bad year - sometimes it just makes you want to throw up your hands and give up, but then I often think...what if I tried "X". When it comes to growing squash, I'm finally having some success - so looks like 5th time was the charm :)

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